Like most people, it has been a bit of a bumpy ride lately but I am delighted to report that things are looking up at Casa Mio.

I didn’t get round to checking last Friday’s Euromillion ticket yet and just before I did so I received the most wonderful email:

Good day,

My associate has helped me to send your first payment of US$7,500 to you as instructed by Mr.James Gordon Brown the British prime minister after the last G20 meeting that was held on April 2nd in London, making you one of the beneficaries.

Here is the information below:
MONEY TRANSFER CONTROL NUMBER: 119-316-2345

SENDER NAME:Ayo Collins
AMOUNT: US$7,500

I told him to keep sending you US$7,500 twice a week until the FULL  payment of (US $360,000.00 Dollars) is completed within 6 (six) Months. For track, send your Full Names via Email to:

Mr Garry Moore
E-mail: western-union007@hotmail.com
Tel: +447045766874

I can only say thank you to Mr. Gary Moore for giving me a laugh this morning and advise Mr. Brown, that if this is some kind of desperate ploy to garner my vote that he’d do better to hand the $15,000 monthly directly to the UK health service who seem even more in need of funds than I do. (And that is saying something!).

And my Euromillion ticket? I don’t know, I still haven’t checked it. The longer I put it off, the longer I can fantasise about what I will do with my winnings.

At the risk of being a gullible mug once again and falling for another email prank, I do want to pass on something just in case there is substance to it.

The notice below says you should not pick up any mobile phone that you find laying around in the street because it may be booby-trapped with enough dynamite to blow off your hand, courtesy of the ETA.

PASADLO AL MAYOR Nº DE PERSONAS POSIBLE.
ES MUY IMPORTANTE. LO HAN PASADO DE LA DIRECCION GENERAL DE LA POLICIA , Y DEL MINISTERIO DEL INTERIOR.

NO RECOJAIS NINGÚN MOVIL QUE ENCONTREIS Y LEED ESTO ATENTAMENTE :
POR DETERMINADAS CIUDADES ESPAÑOLAS, INCLUYENDO MADRID, BARCELONA Y VALENCIA, SE ESTAN PREPARANDO ATENTADOS INDISCRIMINADOS CON LOS DETONADORES ROBADOS RECIENTEMENTE EN ‘GRENOBLE’ POR E.T.A.
EL ‘MODUS OPERANDI’ ES ACOMPAÑARLOS DE UNOS GRAMOS DE DINAMITA E INSERTARLOS EN TELEFONOS MOVILES, LLAVEROS, ETC… QUE LUEGO SE ABANDONAN POR LAS CALLES. TIENEN POTENCIA SUFICIENTE COMO PARA ARRANCAR UNA MANO.

ALERTAD AL MAYOR NÚMERO DE PERSONAS QUE PODAIS..

Most people if they think of K9 Animal Refuge,  think of it as a dog shelter. With 80 dogs in their care, they are definitely that, but K9 also provide shelter for many cats in their large cattery including the fine felines shown below.

[View with PicLens]

Please call Hazel at the K9 kennels on 667 638 468 from 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday to ask about the cats pictured or about the other cats.

Okay, we all know that there are cat people and there are dog people and when it comes to their favourite four legged friend never the twain shall meet. But there are those who love both – the cog or the dat people depending on which kind of furry friend was first in their household.

Much as I love dogs, I have always had cats. Even my very first feline friend gave birth to her kits in my bed when I was only three years old.

I arrived in Tenerife in 2000 from Thailand already kitted out (boom boom) with two furry friends that I brought with me. The venerable Boodle (originally Kitten Caboodle) who lived to a ripe old 22 years and Chokdi, whose name meant Lucky in Thai, but who was one of the unluckiest creatures I have ever come across.

Chokdi settling in

Chokdi and her littermates had been thrown from a three storey window on to the roof of the outside cludgie  of my Bangkok local, ‘Cheap Charlie’s’. Chokdi was perhaps the least appealing because no one had wanted her and while all the others had been spirited away by CC regulars, Chokdi was left in a cardboard box behind the bar. I took the little scrap home.

In the first week it turned out that she had in-turned eyelashes (ouch!) and a fracture in a back leg – not that it seemed to slow her down any. She got stuck behind the oven and stranded mewling at the top of the curtains on a regular basis. At first very scared and nervous, over time she became  a loud and bossy family member with a short, bright tortoiseshell coat and long legs.

Chokdi getting better (believe it or not).

When we went on holiday, the cats went into the care of a local vet. Apart from being mightily pee’d off with us for leaving her there, Boods was fine, Fergus just as fat and contented but poor Chokdi had been struck by a dreadful flesh-eating type disease.  Her beautiful soft fur was peeling off in long, raw tatters, her ears had begun to disintegrate and she was covered in gentian violet. Had we been much longer the vet would have put Chokdi down.

At home with us she recovered slowly although it took a long time  and her ears never looked right again.

Skye and Chokdi just chilling.

The two cats settled into Tenerife very quickly and neither were phased by the addition of a puppy boxer a couple of months later. Everything was great for a year or so until the night Chokdi picked up poison outside. She went into convulsion and died in pain shortly after. My poor soi baby had been through a lot in her short life but she had known love, a full belly and a warm bed which is more than many get in this life so maybe she wasn’t so unlucky after all.

Chokdi died about nine years ago so you might wonder where this trip down memory lane came from.  Well, except for the most recent addition to our family, Mia, who was given to me by a friend, every cat I have ever owned has been from a shelter or was a street stray.  Every one of them has been a wonderful family member and dearly loved friend and none have had any health problems whatsoever except for Chokdi. I just would never consider paying money for a purebred cat when there are all these fantastic waifs and strays out there just wanting someone to take them in.

The good people at K9 asked me to remind TT readers that they have a cattery which is  bursting wth great felines just  waiting for you to take them home. Please don’t miss the next post which will be all about the K9 cats….just remember not to call your new feline friend Lucky!

Earlier on today, I posted about a child kidnap that was supposed to have occurred in Tenerife a day or so ago. At the time I felt sick to my stomach that a young child was in grave danger and I rushed to publish in the hope that, as the message  says below, it would help get the news out and may save the girl from being taken off the island.

Now, thanks to the intervention of Parque and DJandDeid of Tenerife Forum, I know that the information I received was false and I am just sick to the stomach that someone would think that anything of this nature was good subject matter for a hoax.

Why would anyone think this was funny? They even went to the lengths of including the picture of a littl girl, which I have since removed from the post.  I am sure I am not alone in publishing this information and feeling rather stupid right now… but what about the next time?  This stupid joke will make it much harder to get the message out when a child really is taken or goes missing

I was very silly to publish the information without checking its veracity and I apologise wholeheartedly to anyone that was unintentionally mislead and upset.

Original post:

A three year old child was kidnapped from the Taimaimo area one day ago. Elise was apparently taken by two men and a woman who were in a beige or brown SEAT Panda. Please do what you can to get the picture out there.  Please God, let this not be another Maddie or Yerami.

Alerta por el secuestro ayer de esta niña de 3 años  y medio  , Elise, en Tamaimo, Sur de Tenerife. Sus secuestradores, dos hombres y una mujer, viajan en un Seat Panda TF-7633-V (color beige o marrón).

En previsión de que puedan pasar a la península con ella, haz circular este este mensaje con la foto. Gracias…

A new BBC1 television programme is underway and it is about the scams, cons and problems experienced by tourists abroad. They want to know if you’ve been had.

Examples of scams are:

-  bags/luggage stolen

-  tricked into boat trips

- taken advantage of in Taxis

-  locals posing as a uniformed officials.

If you experienced any of these or any other situations that conned you out of  money or put you in a tricky spot then then Auntie Beeb wants to know.

Post a comment below or if you prefer to be contacted privately then send me an email and I will pass it on.

The dog that you threw from the window as you drove past K9 Animal Refuge today ran its heart out to try to to catch up with you. It tried so hard to get to you that it was out of sight by the time the alarm was raised and the people of K9 were not able to catch it.

Your ‘best friend’ will be spending the night alone, in the hills or perhaps on the roadside of the TF1, terrified, cold, hungry and very likely soaked to the skin. Perhaps if he makes it through the night , he will be found and brought back to safety tomorrow.

On the other hand, perhaps you will drive past his dead body tomorrow on your way north to pick up your kids’ Christmas or Three Kings presents from Carrefour or Decathalon. I only hope that in amongst the glittering display of regalos that you have for your children this year, that there are none with a pulse and a beating heart.

Still, perhaps you can console yourself and justify your cowardly act in knowing you are not alone. Your heartless betrayal has been seen and recorded many times before. In fact, just the other day I came across a poem by Robert William Service – the Bard of the Yukon – which practically mentions you by name.

They dumped it on the lonely road,
Then like a streak they sped;
And as along the way I strode
I thought that it was dead:
And then I saw that yelping pup
Rise, race to catch them up.

You know how silly wee dogs are.
It thought they were in fun.
Trying to overtake their car
I saw it run and run:
But as they faster, faster went,
It stumbled, sore and spent.

I found it prone upon the way;
Of life was little token.
As limply in the dust it lay
I thought its heart was broken:
Then one dim eye it opened and
It sought to lick my hand.

Of course I took it gently up
And brought it to my wife
Who loves all dogs, and now that pup
Shares in our happy life:
Yet how I curse the bastards who
Its good luck never knew!